February is Black History Month

About Black History Month

The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 because it encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial. President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”